A Day in The Life:
Regional Research Manager
What is your job about?
As a Regional Research Manager I'm responsible for a team of researchers looking after an area within the UK – my area is Greater London & Thames Valley. My main priorities are to get the best out of my team, making sure they're motivated and that the clients in my area are getting the most out of our products.
What does your typical day look like?
First thing in the morning I would quality check the data my researchers entered the day before. This is key to ensure our clients get the most comprehensive and accurate information from us. If there are any discrepancies, I would discuss them with the responsible Research Associate. One to one meetings with members of my team help me ensure they are motivated and are doing the best job possible; this also involves coaching and getting first hand feedback from their clients to ensure a high level of service is being received.
A typical day could also involve meeting with the Quality Assurance Manager to discuss improvements to the quality of information or a training session with the management team to brainstorm recruitment or better ways of coaching staff.
There are also various interesting one-off projects which crop up on occasions, usually to do with a client needing bespoke information.
What is the most challenging aspect of your job?
It's planning and organising my day effectively to get everything done. This is a fast paced environment and the company is relatively young in the UK so changes happen often, and you need to be able to respond quickly and make sure your team is up to speed too. It can be challenging to get everything done so effective time management is key and I need to be quite disciplined and block time off to deal with certain tasks.
And the best part?
It's when I receive feedback from a client about their researcher – it's good to pass on constructive feedback to the team on how our clients feel we help them on a daily basis. It's necessary to focus on what we do well as well as what we can improve on.
What advice would you give to someone who is interested in working as a Regional Research Manager?
Know your CoStar products inside out: what the key benefits are, what they're used for and who uses them. There's nothing worse than speaking with a client and being unable to answer a question. Knowledge of the different products CoStar offers is valuable within the team too, especially with new researchers: being able to help them understand the product is crucial so they can help their clients in turn.
